So my home remodeling project is complete. We have the nice spare bedroom and the hot tub for us. Then I read David Platt’s new book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Talk about builder’s remorse.
Platt shows that perhaps I’ve been caught up in wrong pursuits of looking for comfort. Platt, a megachurch pastor in Alabama, has implemented the strategies outlined in his book in his congregation. Subsequently, churchgoers are selling their homes, taking overseas missions trips and adopting orphans by the dozens.
By using Jesus’ teachings, Platt shows how Christians in this country have replaced biblical faith with the American dream. Is Christianity really about saving a lot of money for retirement, collecting every new technological gadget available and making sure I take a vacation every year? Does the Lord really want me to live the good life and relax instead of abandoning my career and possessions for His sake?
Platt advocates an eternal strategy in discipleship that will make us forsake the temporal comforts of this world. He wraps up the book by directly challenging readers to specific calls to pray daily for others, read the Bible every day, give sacrificially, take a missions trip and go without things we really don’t need.
“We will soon stand before God to give an account for our stewardship of the time, the resources, the gifts and ultimately the gospel he has entrusted to us,” Platt writes. “When that day comes, I am convinced we will not wish we had given more of ourselves to living the American dream. We will not wish we had made more money, acquired more stuff, lived more comfortably, taken more vacations, watched more television, pursued greater retirement or been more successful in the eyes of this world.”
While I may not be ready to quit my job and move to Africa, Platt has made me contemplate how I spend my time and money.
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